See What God Sees // Bigger Than Your DoubtsSample

Beauty: It’s More Than You Think

Let’s talk about beauty. This is a word that is more than what it seems. But I don’t want to talk about the word. I want to share with you how I love beauty—what it means, and how I want you to experience it. With your heart, your mind, your senses.

And son, this topic isn’t just for the women. Beauty, men, is for you to know too.

Let me explain to you what I mean.

There is a beauty that exists in the world you see around you. Your eyes perceive it, but only if your heart perceives it first. There is healing in beauty. There is hope in beauty. There is a place within you that connects with beauty in a way that words cannot express. (But I have given you language to try. Oh, yes, you can, indeed, create healing and light and beauty with your words.)

But it is the heart that is most hungry for it. It is made to recognize it, and to participate in the creating of it. But that is what I want you to think about—how you recognize it, how you identify it, how you discern what is beautiful and what is not. To begin—can I say to you that you, son, and you, daughter, are so beautiful to me? Can I tell you that the perfect creation of you is a beauty that makes me dance over you, sing over you, declare, with pride that you—you—are my son, you—you—are my daughter. You are ransomed, and in you is no sin; you are ransomed, and in you is no darkness; you are ransomed, and in you I see my Son.

You are strong; you are capable. You are a delight to my heart, a light shining in darkness. (And darkness, the night sky, remember, is so beautiful too.)

So I have created you, My Strong Ones, to accept your beauty, and to realize the depths of it, bit by bit, so that you can perceive more deeply, more clearly, the beauty that is around you. Beauty is a recognition of the heart—a perception that begins from within you. And then your mind, your senses can experience the wonder of a curling leaf, the sound of a raindrop falling from sky, the miracle of healing, of laughter, of sunlight on your bedroom wall.

It is around you, yes, and you see it and experience it through recognizing the beauty of me in you first. That is beauty that is true. Then your heart can begin perceiving the beauty of the restored earth, the beauty of heaven that is available to you when you align your heart with mine, the beauty of Holy Spirit giving you eyes to see what is not of this physical world—the beauty of the world where you worship me and beauty is the only thing you know.

Want to come? Want new eyes to see?

Exercise:

Many external things influence how we define beauty. Culture . . . family . . . friends . . . technology. These all have a direct and powerful effect on what we think is beautiful. They’re difficult to ignore, aren’t they? And so these things often shape how we perceive ourselves, and how we interact with the world.

Here is why: Seeing and appreciating beauty around us begins with accepting the beauty in us, the beauty God sees.

Are you able to accept that you are beautiful to God?

It’s always easier to accept the beauty of children, the beauty of nature, the beauty of art, the beauty of music. But accepting the beauty of our own hearts, our own bodies, our own minds—when surrendered to, and seen through, the love of God—that is a place of freedom.

It allows us to receive love—and, therefore, it empowers us to love.

You, right now, are beautiful because your Father is beautiful. So, how do we help our hearts get to the place where we can accept and believe this? Where we can, in a real, practical way, inhabit a mindset of knowing, without a doubt, we are the beautiful ones of God?

Invite God to speak to your heart . . . .

What thoughts come to your mind? As they come, ask yourself, do these thoughts align with Scripture? Do they fit with what you know about God? With the truth of Jesus and what you know about the Father’s love for you?

If they don’t, don’t worry. Just calmly and firmly reject them. But . . . if the thoughts that come do fit with what we know about God’s love, about Jesus’ truth, then you need to ask Holy Spirit to help you accept, deep into your heart.

And now, take them with you—these true words, and this picture God’s given you. And trust them. Trust that, when He created you, He created someone beautiful—someone He can love. And trust that He does indeed love you.

Trust that his love is true.